Saint Louis Gate or St Louis Gate or Turbine Gate is a 2020

corruption Corruption is a form of dishonesty or a criminal offense that is undertaken by a person or an organization that is entrusted in a position of authority to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one's gain. Corruption may involve activities ...

case involving political appointees of the

Government of Mauritius The Government of Mauritius () is the main authority of the executive power in the Republic of Mauritius. The Head of Government, head of the Government is the Prime Minister of Mauritius, who manages the main agenda of the Government and direct ...

, employees of the

Central Electricity Board The United Kingdom Central Electricity Board (CEB) was established by the Electricity (Supply) Act 1926. It had the duty to supply electricity to authorised electricity undertakers, to determine which power stations would be 'selected' stations ...

and Danish firm Burmeister & Wain Scandinavian Contractor (BWSC).

Background

In 2014 a tender package was issued by the CEB for a major upgrade of an existing diesel power station at St. Louis, on the outskirts of capital city

Port Louis Port Louis (, ; or , ) is the capital and most populous city of Mauritius, mainly located in the Port Louis District, with a small western part in the Black River District. Port Louis is the country's financial and political centre. It is admi ...

. Burmeister & Wain Scandinavian Contractor (BWSC) of

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was awarded the contract by the Mauritian power-generating entity CEB
CEB
. In 2018 a whistleblower alerted the financier

African Development Bank The African Development Bank Group (AfDB, also known as BAD in French) is a multilateral development finance institution, headquartered in Abidjan, Ivory Coast since September 2014. The AfDB is a financial provider to African governments and ...

(ADB) that the award to BWSC occurred after bribes had been received by several CEB employees through an intermediary of BWSC who owns a Mauritian construction company. ADB investigated the claims and thus excluded BWSC from all future work for 21 months.

Revelations

In early June 2020 Leader of Opposition Arvin Boolell raised this issue in the Parliament. Shortly after the entire Management Team of CEB was stood down on 14 June 2020 by the Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth who appointed a new Board of Management. As more details surrounding the St Louis Gate scandal became public the Opposition highlighted the need for a detailed enquiry and also requested the dismissal or resignation of the Deputy Prime Minister involved. Observers also questioned the basis for the significant capital expenditures, given the remote risk of a power black-out on the island. In July 2020 the contracting firm PAD & Company Limited (PAD & Co. Ltd.) was placed under voluntary administration and firm BDO was appointed as administrator after facing liquidity problems following revelations of fake bank guarantees for civil works contract of the order of Rs 210 Millions, as well as earlier revelations of the firm's involvement in the BWSC-CEB-ADB St Louis gate scandal. Shamshir Mukoon former director of CEB and Alain Hao Thyn Voon, former director of contracting firm PAD CO have also been interrogated by ICAC investigators. On 05 September 2020 Bertrand Lagesse was arrested in Mauritius for contravening Articles 3 (1) (b), 6 and 8 of the Financial Intelligence and Anti-Money Laundering Act since May 2016. Bertrand Lagesse has been the consulting engineer for Burmeister & Wain Scandinavian Contractor (BWSC) which is the principal contractor of the CEB in this scandal. He is suspected of having acquired a property worth 212,948 Euros (Rs 10 Millions) as well as for holding Rs 8.17 Millions in a bank account using proceeds of corruption. However the investigators have discovered that Bertand Lagesse had already erased his telephone and computer records.

References

{{Corporate scandals Accounting scandals Corporate crime Corruption in Mauritius Scandals in Mauritius